Lilac and her Parents at the Basandere

Other than a fresh coat of paint, some new decor, and a few added /deleted menu items, the Basandere is much as you remember it. After a quick glance around the establishment to ensure you were the first to arrive, the hostess leads you to a secluded booth. She brings you whatever drink you care to order, along with a menu. You are pleased to note that the curry noodles are still a specialty of the establishment.

Perhaps six or seven minutes after you are seated, your mom arrives, waves, and heads to your booth. Lilac! I've told your father to meet us, he's going to try to get over here soon. She leans in and hugs you. "I hope you're just heading to the ship for maintenance work or are you really leaving again so soon? Do I need to have words with that Xandar to get you home for more than a day or two?"

Shirrah chuckles with you then adds, "I do hope those boys are treating you well up there. Your father and I worry about you.
So many things can happen..."

She takes a sip of her tea and listens as you go on. You can tell from her look that she is generally worried about you as most parents might, but is trying to keep from making a big deal about it. At your question, her eyes brighten and she nods. "My team have made some design tweaks that so far are improving efficiencies in the hydroponic equipment, and we're able to shave off the inputs needed to keep them operational. But what's fascinating is the new foxtail breed we've crossed. We're calling it Knobweed for now. It has a reed-like stalk that anchors itself directly to stone and the frond found at the top of the stalk has the ability to contract and retreat into the stalk during storms for protection. But what makes it so exciting is the milky white sap found inside. It is a natural and highly valuable antiseptic used in the field and by established apothecaries.... oh look! Your father is here already! I'm surprised, he must have rushed to get here."

She smiles and waves to get Sohn's attention. Your father strides up, gives his wife a kiss and you a hug as you make room for him at the table. He says in his gravelly voice, "Lilac! Glad I was able to catch you, how was your job?"

"Well, the job was interesting...." She glances around briefly at the surrounding booths, then says in a quieter voice, "The job was serving as muscle... hard to picture, I know... for a team exploring the ruins of Savannah Tower. It's part of why I wanted to drop in on you before we had to leave again."

"We found some things there, including a working security system. It was pretty obvious someone is still guarding the place against prying eyes. I haven't seen what he found, but Xandar's scrub of some of data he picked up on the station suggested the incident was sabotage.... Have you ever heard of anything about that?"

Your parents exchange a look. Sohn leans back in the booth, stroking his chin while your mother frowns at you, mouthing the word 'muscle?!' After a moment, your father speaks.

"Well the story goes that there was some sort of catastrophic life support failure at Savannah that wiped out half a level, and there were mass, rushed evacuations right after. The refugees put a huge system strain on the other habitat towers, that frankly, we're still dealing with to some extent today. That's part of why there are population controls in place." He glances over at Shirrah.

"We always would have liked to have had another child, but it didn't seem right, with the systems already at capacity, and others denied any," she added in a wistful tone as Sohn patted her knee then put his arm around her shoulder.

"Yes, we would have, if it had been possible. But to your question, there were expeditions back, but they never returned.
The KTL even sent a team, but if I remember right they were said to have came back saying the place was irradiated and collapsing in places and too dangerous to explore further. Of course there have always been those that didn't buy the official story, conspiracy theorists and the like. But now.... you say you've been there and that there was working security? The systems failure sabotage?" His voice gets quieter and quieter towards the end, obviously a bit leery of being overheard.

I had no idea.... Why would I have, though? Well, I could have have asked at some point.... I guess I do know a lot of only children. I always understood the importance of the system, but I never thought about what it would mean to be denied.... Or to feel the weight of a responsibility to deny yourself.... We didn't want children yet anyway, but

Catching up suddenly to her father's words, Lilac straightens and sighs. Looking to her mother, she says softly, "I never knew. I'm... I'm sorry that happened."

Turning her gaze to her father, she takes a breath and continues quietly "Well, they weren't lying, at least not lying outright, about the condition of the tower. There were areas we couldn't get to due to radiation and parts of it are collapsed. And it's not powered or capable, currently, of holding an atmosphere without some serious repairs. The security I mentioned wasn't the station's systems. They were robot patrols. Pretty advanced stuff. We're lucky we were able to disable it... uh, well, parts of it. I'm don't think we got anywhere near all of what's in place there.

She gives a wistful half smile and make the further admission, "We were also engaged in a firefight with a small ship that showed up about the time we came back to the surface. Maybe our messing with the patrols set off some kind of beacon, but I think it's more likely the place is being actively surveilled."

"As I said, I didn't see what Xandar did, but I think he's concerned about there being KTL involvement, now and in the past. Which makes our current business arrangment a possible problem... but that's for dealing with later. Has the situation above our heads changed any? I'm guessing some of the anti-KTL sentiment that has surfaced lately is supported by a few of those that don't buy the official story. I just wondered how seriously you would take them, though."

Shirrah nods and smiles faintly at Lilac's commiseration. She wipes at one of her eyes with a napkin as Lilac turns back to her father.

Sohn frowns at the recounting of what was found at the tower, and they both stare at you with a bit of consternation at the mention of a firefight. Lilac's father seems to take it more in stride than Shirrah as he leans back and plays thoughtfully with his fork.

"There has nearly from the beginning been some group or other with anti-KTL sentiment. Though you're right, it has been growing more strident over the past couple of years or so. There are many who see the KTL as oppressors, which may be a matter of perspective, and foreigners, which they are. I can't say I'm really in the know, but I'd say tensions have been ramping up of late. One thing is for sure, whatever is going on up above, it's galvanizing those opposed to the league, and some of them will doubtless see the present circumstances as a moment of opportunity. Speaking of, do you know what is going on up above? All we can tell is there is some unknown fleet jamming communications and running off any attempt to reach the station."

"So you say the security was high tech, by which I take it you mean, not likely to be a native outfit. Whether it's KTL or not, I'd bet that there are those who will pin the blame on them. Were you able to ID the ship you mentioned?"

"I don't know more than that. That's kind of why I was asking. Xandar may have known something more about the fleet, but honestly, we're all a bit scattered at the moment, so yeah that's not really helpful or informative. Sorry.... I don't think we got an ID on the ship. Not that it couldn't be spoofed anyway. By the end of the altercation it was grounded, but I think for fear of, um... backup... arriving, we didn't investigate more than was necessary to disable it from the air."

"Which brings me to another thing I wanted to mention. Our contract for this tower expedition was a guy named Chang - don't throw that name around if you don't need to - but we salvaged a working air scrubber. He's bringing it here to Meridian. I think as a gesture of goodwill, though as it was his salvage, maybe he'll expect some remuneration. He didn't strike me as that type though. If it's not here already it should arrive shortly. I don't know how all that will go down but I guess I was thinking someone besides the crew of The Kukuri should know about. To make sure it appears...."

"The whole thing has me thinking," she says, turning to her mother. "You work with the CO2 producing half of the ecosystem. If the scrubber goes down and no replacement is actually available, what does that look like? Is there a long term plan for, I don't know, expanding the tower, making a dome? Terraforming?"

Looking back to her father, she continues "It seems to me whatever their intentions, the KTL has us thinking with a dependency mindset. To a degree. I mean, for that matter no one knows what caused The Scream. What if it happens again?"

"You bring up quite a few points, and you're not wrong." Sohn says, consideringly. "I think the KTL does want us dependent on them. They've done a lot of good, but they don't do it out of the goodness of their hearts. They're like most anyone else - they want wealth, power, and influence. I've never had anything against them personally, they've kept me employed and food on our table all these years, after all."

"Yet getting advanced tech is all but impossible. We've requested scrubbers and parts for scrubbers over the years, what we can get down from Prime is just enough to keep things from collapsing. There's always some excuse or another - parts are impossible to come by, so much tech is lost or scarce beyond belief. I don't know how true it is or if there's something to what the troublemakers say. Expanding the tower is... well likely pointless without more scrubbers, and those are simply beyond our capacity to produce on planet. Terraforming? Dear, that's just science fiction. Maybe a long time ago people had that kind of tech, but I doubt it. Certainly not now, not even the KTL."

Sohn adds when Shirrah finishes, "If you've brought back an intact scrubber, that's going to make waves. Not a thing to go unnoticed. It would be huge. But that other ship, the firefight and the security bots? That's all quite disturbing. Savannah's supposed to have been abandoned for decades. A pity you couldn't ID the ship or its crew. Someone certainly didn't want whatever happened up there to come to light, and I don't like the implications..."

"Oh, I saw it, it's huge. But it's got to come out of the hold here, where it can do some good, not at some mining waystation. It's way too valuable to play games with. Look I don't mean to lay this on the two of you," she says, glancing quickly to her mother and then returning to look meaningfully at her father, "but we're probably going again once I get back to the ship and I don't know for how long."

She lets that hang in the air for just a moment before breathing in and looking back to Shirrah. "I get the science fiction thing and all, but.... Agh. I guess I hadn't yet done the math on what it would take to make spaceworthy seals on what would probably have to be square miles of greenhouse."

Lilac shifts suddenly to Sohn, "I'll ask if Xandar or Boz actually did get an ID on the ship, but that reminds me.... Neither of you know a doctor or medic that's looking to get offworld, do you? Across the three of us we can work a first aid kit, but I think Xandar would like to hire more crew and that's where he wants to start. It would seem to me with all of this mess, there might be qualified crew just sitting around, you know, who could get cut from their current contracts...."

Seeing the waiter rejoin them finally, she pulls out her dataslab as the orders are taken. Should I just ask for this to go? No, I'm going to enjoy this and just talk... for a little bit longer.... Ordering the curry noodles and something fizzy to drink, she sends a quick message to Xandar and Boz:

"Hey, did either of you, or the ships sensors, for that matter, get an ID on that ship we encountered earlier today? Dad asked and well, dock workers see a lot, so..."

Shirrah sighs softly as Lilac intimates that the Kukuri would likely be leaving as soon as she made it back. "Is that wise? With that fleet out there? Wouldn't it be better to wait it out?"

She shares a look with Sohn, who shrugs. "There's always some crew to be found, especially now as you surmised, though whether there is a qualified doctor, I couldn't say offhand. If you have time, or could convince Xandar to wait a day or two perhaps, I could put out some feelers for you."

When the waiter arrives, the pair order meals along with yours, Sohn a spicy local soup and Shirrah a salad. "Do you have the contact info for this Chang fellow of yours? Are you thinking I should contact him, or send him assistance or tell tower authorities what's going on... what's your feel for the situation?"


"And once that's sorted, enough shop talk. I want to know all about how you've been and where you may be going. Or reminisce. The time is always too short."

"Well, I'm pretty sure Xandar's thinking is that now might be the time to leave with all the attention on the station rather than on the towers, and I think I agree.... I doubt he'll want to stay a day or two, but I can ask."

"As for Chang, I'll ask about that too. I, um, I didn't exactly plan all this out before coming here, so I don't know whether Chang actually wants assistance. Or needs it. I might be jumping the gun. He doesn't know this conversation is happening... but you know, as you said, you can't hide something this big, so...."

She takes up her dataslab and opens a message directly to Xandar:

"Dad offered to see if he can find a doctor, but that probably delays us a day or two. What do you think? Also, I mentioned Chang and the incoming air scrubber. Do you think it would help them to be in contact with my Dad? Any chance they would want or need an ally in the tower, for offloading or logistics or avoiding issues?"

"Ok, well I said I would ask..." Lilac says, half under her breath. "He won't stick around, so effectively, nevermind on the medic. His take on Chang is that he, Chang, is going to need all the allies he can get. Maybe not specifically with the scrubber, but in what happens here in the tower from here on out."

"I'll get Chang's contact info from Xandar and forward that to you. Or I guess, if there's some reason not to do that, I'll have him drop your name with Chang."

She writes back to Xandar:
"If you think it's OK send me Chang's contact info and I'll forward that onto Dad. Or at least let's send him my Dad's info if you think Chang will balk at you distributing his."

After pressing send, she thinks to add:
"I told them about the air scrubber, the security bots, and the firefight with the ship at the end. That the KTL might be involved but only that you wondered that after finding whatever it is you found. I get the feeling with the anti-KTL feeling rising, Dad would be a good ally for knowing and seeing both sides, level headed. But I'm biased, of course."

She puts down the dataslab. "OK. Sorry, that's enough for now. I'll put this down." She takes a swig of her drink and turns to her father. "So, are you torturing any interns currently down in Large Craft?"

Sohn chuckled and winked. "Always. Got a fresh crop of them in a few weeks ago. Green behind the ears, I'm convinced half of them couldn't tell a spanner from a crowfoot socket before they got there. One kid, convinced she already knew it all, tried to just bypass a couple of power converters and set off all kinds of alarms and caused a power outage. We had her convinced she messed up big, caused a year's wages worth of damages."

He grinned conspiratorially as his wife rolled her eyes and muttered something about him being horrible. "But what of you? You keeping those boys in line? How's that ship of yours holding up? You and Boz make any interesting modifications?"

Lilac returns the grin, widening it at her mother's protests. "Yes, I recall being told that each of those alarm circuits were connected directly to Payroll. Of course, I was also interning in CompSys so I figured that for BS. But it's kind of fun to imagine. Little alarm buzzers down on someone's desk. Some suit hurriedly checking who is badged in at the moment...."

"As for keeping the boys in line, is that possible? They don’t listen to me, that’s for sure. But I guess life would be more boring without them.... Let’s see, you saw my practice range, though I would say that’s less modified than just cobbled together. We’d like to get a better workshop, some defensive upgrades, but you know, everything costs. And we're still trying to pay off what we have...."

Sohn smiles over at his daughter. "Ahh yes. The sad life of an adult. Everything costs an arm and a leg. Still, I'm sure you'll all get it sorted. What sort of defenses are you looking at acquiring? A pity you aren't staying longer, perhaps we could have worked on it together."

"Well, I said defenses, but actually I think the last thing Boz was talking about was mounting additional weapons. But you know what they say about the best defense.... I do wish we could stay longer. I know the crews here are good for it."

She looks down to see her curry bowl nearly empty, then takes up another forkful. "You know I miss it sometimes. The mundaneness. The occasional challenge mixed into routine. The steady paycheck. Having shifts that would actually end.... but I'm in with The Kukuri for now, and whether I can keep them in line or not, I think they need me."

She eyes her dataslab, it having not chirped yet as expected. Hmm I hope there's no trouble. Of course, it's not unusual for Xandar to get distracted. Preoccupied? Maybe.

Looking back up to see that clearly her mother, at least, had caught on to her mental distraction, she smiles weakly and proffers as explanation, "Hmm. I sort of thought he would send that right away. I guess I'll sort it out with him when I get back to the ship." She sighs. "Ahh. There's no good way to say this... but I should get going pretty soon."